Material storage and handling container



May 13, 1952 F. E. WHITE MATERIAL STORAGE AND HANDLING CONTAINER 2SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filedv March 2131950 FRANCIS E .WHITE Gttornefs May 13,1952 F. E. WHITE 2,596,881

MATERIAL STORAGE lAND HANDLING CONTAINER lFiled March 21, 195o 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Il V li" NI il FRANCIS E WHITE Gttorneys Patented May 13, 1952MATERIAL STORAGE AND IHANDLING CONTAINER Francis E. White, Birmingham,Ala., assignor to Birmingham Fabricating Company, Birmingham, Ala.

Application Miarch 21, 1950Seral N0. 150,869

2 Claims.

This invention relates toimprovements in material storage and handlingcontainers of the type designed to be stacked one on top of the other,usually with a fork lift truck.

It is already known in the art to provide auxiliary Ymeans to permittiering of containers in superimposed relation. With the presentinvention the inherent construction of the containers permitssuperimposing in nested relation, to prevent lateral displacement,without the use of tiering lugs or other extraneous means.

Attempts have been made in the art, as eX- empliiied in the patent toPowell No. 1,875,141 of August 30, 1932, to provide containerssusceptible of tiering but it has been found necessary to utilizeseparate base units for the containers engageable by fork lift trucksfor elevating the containers into the desired position. Containers madein accordance with the teaching of this invention are self-suicient andeliminate the cumbersome, costly, separate bases. This is accomplishedby constructing the container of a unit bottom and sides, the terminalsof the sides being engaged by end walls which are extended below f thebottom to form legs. The space below the container bottom within theconfines of the legs is suiiicient to accommodate the fork of a lifttruck. f

Another object of the invention is to equip the upper terminals of thecontainer end walls with combination support and guard rails constructedand arranged to support containers in vertical alignment and positivelyprevent longitudinal displacement or skewing of the containers whennested.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a containerwhich has strengthening corrugations in the sides, ends and bottom, thecorrugatlons in the ends being vertical throughout and running at rightangles to those in the sides and bottom.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescription of the invention taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a container constructed in accordancewith the present invention and showing in fragmentary phantom linesanother container superimposed thereon;

Figure 2 is a side elevational View of the container;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View taken along the line 3-3 of Figure2. looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing to advantage therelation of the corrugations in the ends, sides and bottom;

Figure Llis an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view taken along theline 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, andillustrating the manner of securing an end and side of the container;

Figure 5 is an end elevational View of a modiiied form `of theinvention, with the bottom shown in dotted lines, wherein rivets areemployed to secure the ends to the sides and bottom;

Figure 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional View taken along the line6 6 of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing indetail the manner of securing an end and side of the container;

Figure 7 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view taken along theline 'I-'I of Figure 5, i1- lustrating the relative positions of therunner, end and vertical corrugation; and

Figure 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken along the line8-8 of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing toadvantage the manner of riveting the bottom to a lcontainer side.

In the drawings is shown a metal container which includes side walls 9and a bottom wall I0. As shown advantageously in Figure 3, said wallsand bottom are formed from a single sheet of metal and are provided withstrengthening corrugations II extending horizontally along the entirelength of the sides. These eorrugations protrude outwardly from thesides. The container also includes end walls I2 which are Awelded orotherwise secured to the terminals of the side walls 9 and extend belowthe bottom I of the container to form legs I3. The legs issue intorunners I4 each substantially coextensive with the breadth of its leg.Vertical corrugations I5, formed in the ends, protrude outwardly, andextend uninterruptedly from the tcp to the bottom of the legs. At thetop of each end wall and running the length thereof are angle irons eachdesignated I6 and each comprising a support or seat portion Il and aguard rail I8.

In the preferred form of the invention, ends I2 are fused to the marginsof walls 9 and bottom III as indicated at I9. A continuous weld has beenfound to be the most effective fusion means to withstand the stresses towhich these containers are subjected.

In the modi-ded form of the invention shown in Figure 5, the side wallsand bottom are riveted to the end walls, as indicated at 20. Figure 6clearly shows a preferred form of riveted joint. In this embodiment thelateral extremities of bottom I0 are bent downwardly at pointsintermediate the horizontal corrugations II to form 3 anges 2| throughwhich rivets 2U a1' driven to secure the bottom and end walls together.The extremities of horizontal corrugations II of bottom I fit into therecess in the vertical corrugations I5 to effect a contiguous jointbetween the bottom and end walls.

In use, theunderside of the bottom wall I0 is engaged by the projectingfork of the lift truck and the container elevated to a point above asimilar container. By proper manipulation of the truck, the container islowered until its runners Il engage the seat portion I1 of angle ironI6. container skewing or longitudinal displacement. The reverseprocedure is followed in removing the container.

Many advantages flow from a container constructed in the foregoingmanner. First of all by running the corrugations vertically in theends-and legs, thev stiffness of the corrugations is continuous from theangle irons to the runners. Also, when the containers are stacked, thesevertical corrugations act as efficient co1- umns and transmit the loadsstraight through from the topmost container to the bottom of the stack.Furthermore, a container constructed in accordance with this invention,permits the use of heavy corrugations since with this structure it isnot necessary to bend corrugations around corners.

Although I have herein described the preferred form of my invention, itis to be understood that I am not to be limited thereto and that manychanges could be made without departing from the scope of the claimshereto appended.

Iclaim:

- 1. A containercomprising integral side walls and a bottom wall, thewalls being provided at Guard rails I8 eliminate the danger of aVintervals with horizontally arranged corruga- 4 forks of a hydrauliclift, the end walls being provided with vertical corrugations, and acombined support and guard rail secured to the top of each end wall foraccommodating the lower portions of the end walls of an identicalcontainer whereby a plurality of identical containers may be stacked andheldin stacked condition against skewing or longitudinal displacement.

. 2. A container comprising a unit including parallel side walls and aconnecting bottom wall formed from a Vsingle sheet, horizontally a1'-ranged corrugations extending at intervals in the side and bottom walls,end walls secured to the opposite terminals of the side and bottomwalls, the lower ends of said end walls extending below the sideandbottom walls to provide therewith an external space for accommodatingthe lifting -forks of a hydraulic lift, Vertical corrugatons in said endwalls, and a right angle bar secured to the top of each end wall toprovide a support and-guard rail for a superimposed identical containerunit.

` FRANCIS E. WHITE.

REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record. in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date `527,642 White Oct. 16, 1894746,597 Sochurek, Sr. Dec. 8, 1903 '786,674 Y- Polski Apr. Ll, 19051,328,030 Bard Jan. 13, 1920 1,387,655 Shaw et al. Aug. 16, 19211,431,813 Judd Oct. l0, 1022 1,875,141 Powell Aug. 30, 1932 1,947,055Moerman Feb. 13, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 262,556 GreatBritain Dec. 16, 1926 476,782 Germany May 25, 1929

